Lawsuit re-filed against fire districtA lawsuit has been re-filed against the Crow Mountain Rural Fire District in Pope County Circuit Court. According to an affidavit, plaintiff Deanne Honaker filed the suit Thursday afternoon against defendants and board members Don Keaster, Tommy Spencer, Joann Douthit, Gregg Long and Jim Bob Humphrey. Honaker is represented by attorney Samuel Eastman. The lawsuit, previously filed by plaintiffs Danny Cothern and David Ivy, was dismissed due to...

Alliance, Chamber name new directorsThe Russellville Area Chamber of Commerce (RACC) and Arkansas Valley Alliance for Economic Development (AVAED) announced separate directors Friday. The Alliance board of directors has appointed Paul Harvel as the Interim CEO of the Alliance. According to a letter distributed to Chamber members, Harvel has a long history of working with economic development organizations in the state. He has previously served as President and CEO of the Fort Sm...

Lawsuit filed against wet/dry voteCLARKSVILLE -- A group that calls itself the Stand Strong Stay Dry Be Safe Committee recently filed a civil lawsuit against Johnson County Clerk Michelle Frost and called for the Nov. 8 general election ballot proposal to be thrown out. Committee members Aaron Davis, Casey Hardin, Michael Troup and Elva Hampton, filed through the Streett Law Firm of Russellville, appealed the Aug. 10 certification of the local option petition and petitioned fo...

Board OKs ED director descriptionMembers of the Russellville City Council's Personnel Committee approved a job description for a city economic development director during a meeting Thursday at City Hall. Commissioners had a few questions, including if the position would be called director or coordinator and if it would be under the mayor or city council. They decided to treat it like any other department head and name it economic development director who will answer to the ma...

Commission mulls assisted living facility on Marina Rd. Although they did not take any action, members of the Russellville Planning Commission agreed more assisted living facilities are needed in the community after a presentation on The Arbors facility. Representatives of The Arbors at Russellville Assisted Living Facility gave a presentation on the facility they will build on Marina Way. They said they would build an upscale 75-bed assisted II facility similar to Fox Ridge Estates and Mount Carme...

Dover Housing Authority penalties nearly all forgivenDOVER -- Meta Holman, executive director of the Clarksville and Dover Housing Authority, recently announced that $13,668 in anticipated penalties levied against the Dover facility by the IRS for failure to file and pay employee withholdings from 2011 through 2015 under the previous administration had been forgiven. Holman said she was contacted by Appeals Officer Denise Coombs who wrote, "I completed my review of your request to adjust the fai...

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BY STEVE LEAVELL
sleavell@cswnet.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

City Corp., Tri-County discuss future water sourceOne of the items in the long-range planning for City Corporation is to begin looking for a future water source 25 years after Huckleberry Reservoir was dedicated. It's been over 20 years, so representatives of City Corporation and the Tri-County Regional Water Distribution District got together recently and met regarding collaborative efforts with regards to a future regional water source. City Corp. General Manager Steve Mallett said board me...

Diverse millennials are no voting monolithAmerica's oldest millennials -- nearing 20 when airplanes slammed into the World Trade Center -- can remember the economic prosperity of the 1990s, and when a different Clinton ran for president. The younger end of the generation -- now nearing 20 -- can't recall a time without terrorism or economic worry. Now millennials have edged out baby boomers as the largest living generation in U.S. history, and more than 75 million have come of age. Wi...

A&P reports financials as 'We're OK'The Russellville Advertising & Promotion Commission learned during their recent regular meeting that hotel tax collections were at $190,204 for the first six months of the year. Executive Director Christie Graham said June collections were $1,067 over budget. The only two months that collections did not exceed expected totals were April and May. April receipts were $28,206 with an expected total in the budget of $33,000. The same total was bud...

Dover ordinances continue the move toward approvalDOVER -- Two long-pending ordinances were brought a step closer to enactment at the monthly meeting of the Dover City Council on Tuesday. The first ordinance, amending the hours and dates of firework usage in the community, was discussed with the council by local resident Timothy Smith, who objected to both the amended ordinance and the long-standing underlying version as "unnecessary regulation." He also noted that the ordinance also regulate...

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BY STEVE LEAVELL
sleavell@cswnet.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley

Action taken to halt DOE projectTwo landowner groups along the proposed $2 billion Plains and Clean Line project filed a legal complaint recently against the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the Southwestern Power Administration over the use of federal eminent domain powers in Arkansas to benefit a Texas for-profit venture group. The Plains and Eastern Clean Line is an approximately 700-mile-long direct current transmission line that would deliver electricity from the Okl...

Airport recommends taxiway bidThe Russellville Regional Airport Commission voted during a recent special meeting to accept a bid of $307,711 for the taxiway extension project and for Miller-Newell Engineers of Malvern to conduct the airport's geographical information systems (GIS) survey. Two bids were submitted for the taxiway extension project. Hard Rock Construction of Russellville submitted the lowest bid for the project, $307,711, which according to Mayor Randy Horton...

Republicans to query firms that ran Clinton's private serverWASHINGTON — Republicans stepped up their attacks Monday on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's use of a private email server and pointed to newly released messages to allege that foreign donors to the Democratic presidential nominee's family charity got preferential treatment from her department. Congressional Republicans issued subpoenas to three technology companies that either made or serviced the server located in the basement of ...

City Council says GONot only did the Russellville City Council approve appropriations and transfers that totaled over $4 million during Thursday's regular meeting, aldermen approved a bid from Clay Cole Construction of Russellville for the O Street construction project. Mayor Randy Horton said Thursday was a good day because "two projects came in under budget and saved the city money." The cost of the O Street project was estimated at $3 million, but the winning ...

Candidate filings come to an endTwo new faces will join the Russellville City Council at the end of the year, while two positions will be decided by voters during the Nov. 8 general election, after independent candidate filing ended at noon Friday in Pope County. Aldermen who will return to their positions on the Russellville City council are incumbents Freddie Harris, Ward 2, Position 2; Robert D. Wiley, Ward 3, Position 1; and Larry Brown, Ward 4, Position 1. Those who fil...

Interim chief no moreThe biggest motivation for Russellville's new fire chief is to live up to his colleagues' expectations. Kirk Slone, a Russellville firefighter since 1992 who was named interim chief June 5, became the new chief last week during a press conference inside the Central Station fire engine bay. He wants to live up to their expectations because they "went to bat" for him in a big way the last couple of months. Several battalion chiefs and firefighte...

Volunteers sought to be infected with ZikaWASHINGTON -- Wanted: Volunteers willing to be infected with the Zika virus for science. It may sound bizarre, but researchers are planning just such a study -- this winter, when mosquitoes aren't biting -- to help speed development of much-needed Zika vaccines. The quest for a vaccine began less than a year ago as Brazil's massive outbreak revealed that Zika, once dismissed as a nuisance virus, can harm a fetus' brain if a woman is infected d...

City to consider spending over $4MThe Russellville City Council will look at funding over $4 million in appropriations when it convenes at 6 p.m. inside City Hall. The biggest items, $2 million each, will go toward building funds for the new Aquatic Center and Central Fire Station. Other items include a salary for a new court clerk ($5,755), providing retirement funds for a district court employee who will retire in October ($2,727), repairing the HVAC unit at the Soccer Compl...

Slone takes over as Russellville fire chiefA watershed moment happened during the search for Russellville's next fire chief a couple of months ago. Mayor Randy Horton explained Monday inside the Central Fire Station engine bay that all the battalion chiefs and Fire Marshal Richard Setian came up to see him and told him they visited during senior staff meetings and unanimously decided to back Kirk Slone, interim chief since June, as their fire chief. "That's pretty impressive," Horton s...

RFD report brings grads front, centerRussellville interim Fire Chief Kirk Slone told the City Council during its July report that firefighters answered 1,213 calls through the first six months of 2016. But the most significant highlight came from two of the newest graduates of the Arkansas Fire Academy. Ian Simpson and Cody Wilcox represented RFD during the most recent academy that trained firefighters from departments throughout the state. "It would be great for you to recognize...

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BY SEAN INGRAM
sean@couriernews.comThe Courier Your Messenger For The River Valley